1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus and method for processing stereoscopic images. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for efficiently compressing three-dimensional stereoscopic images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Terminals capable of reproducing multimedia images in digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) and the like are being widely used. As part of the reproducing of multimedia images, complex images must be processed by various methods since the images have a vast amount of data mixed with graphics or text and natural images when they are transmitted. The vast amount of data associated with these images presents many problems in terms of transmission traffic and storage. To address these problems, image compression is necessary. Also, the need for additional image compression is increasing with the advent of new image application fields.
A mobile communication terminal capable of transmitting and receiving images may process images using the following method.
The mobile communication terminal converts optical image signals of an object, input through a camera, into electrical signals, digitally processes the electrical signals, and outputs the processed signals to a screen. To transmit an image, the image captured by the camera is encoded and packetized to reduce the amount of transmission load. The encoded and packetized image is transmitted to another terminal. However, since existing compression schemes such as Moving Picture Experts Group Compression Standard Version 4 (MPEG4), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) and the like are currently being used without considering a stereoscopic image characteristic, compression efficiency is very low.
In addition, when stereoscopic images are transmitted or displayed, a portable device, such as a mobile communication terminal, is limited in the number of operations it may process since the stereoscopic images have a larger amount of image information than still images and thus require more of the device's processing capacity.